Monthly Archives: April 2009

Since January the IMF has been working on the issuing of a first bond issue. The bonds would be denominated in SDRs, with a maturity of 1 year and offered to Central Banks. Speculation has been rife for some time … Continue reading →

This week finance ministers are meeting at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). In advance of the meeting the IMF release a Report yesterday that raised the total projected losses from the global financial crisis to … Continue reading →

I first encountered (not literally mind you) Joshua Cooper Ramo in his description and analysis of what Ramo called the ‘Beijing Consensus’. Difficult to unearth the consensus part of the story, but that’s for another post, still I was intrigued … Continue reading →

I had the great pleasure of attending a presentation at the C.D. Howe Institute here in Toronto by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, currently the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission of India. Unfortunately these sessions, probably wisely, are undertaken as off-the-record discussions. So, … Continue reading →

Late in 2005, Goldman Sachs (GS) introduced the concept of the N-11. As described by Dominic Wilson and Anna Stupnytska in the GS Global Economics Paper, No. 153 (March 28, 2007), “The N-11: More than an Acronym.”* The N-11 appeared … Continue reading →

The London G20 summit turned to be an unanticipated success. In the weeks and days before the event, signs were gloomy of any positive outcome. The French and Germans were saying ‘no’ to any major collective stimulus package. Gordon Brown as … Continue reading →

Jim O’Neill, Head of Global Economic Research for Goldman Sachs, is not ready to declare decoupling dead – at least with regard to the BRICs. O’Neill, the ‘inventor’ of the BRICs, recently sought to resuscitate the notion that the BRICs … Continue reading →

I was struck – indeed almost made dizzy – by the contrasting interpretations the media delivered following the London G20 meeting. In the end I wasn’t sure whether the media was even covering the same event. This confusion continued … Continue reading →